They count your plane landing at the airport as being there, even if you didn't clear customs. They divide the world into more countries than there really are. They count Alaska and Hawaii as separate countries from the US. Crete is separate from Greece. Etc ...

It's a fun obsession. I keep count. But I recognize that someone who has been all over China has probably seen more than someone who has been to Belgium, Luxembourg, and Netherlands.

Dr. Mike Kasum gave a talk about his new book which is available on line at www.fingertiptravelguide.com. He said those who read the guide can become a traveler instead of a tourist with the travel information.

The key to becoming a traveler instead of a tourist. Where's my wallet?

Last edited by egjeg on Sat Jun 04, 2031 4:13 am, edited 5,730,142 time in total.

I am married to one of those guys In Italy had to take a detour to visit San Marino, a practice repeated in many other places so he could add to his listHave gotten into many a heated argument as I think it bollox also

Soda hasn't posted here in foreverLet it go for chrisssakes

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.

Yeah i think the Travel Century Club is ran by a few old rich dudes who seldom step out of 5 star comfort but i do like the concept of seeing how many you've been to and it does effect where i decide to go.I don't agree with counting a place if you are simply transiting in the country via the airport...that can't be right ....but i do like the TCC aside from that.

I'm on 78 with number 79 coming on Friday when I drive up to Haggis land.

I don't even begin to understand the counting thing. I like to go to new countries. I'd love to have as many new experiences of other places as I can. but it wouldn't occur to me to count them. What's the point? Is it a bloke thing?

polardude1 wrote:There are a few countries I have simply decided to return to because I juts did not have enough time on the initial visit.

Ditto for me - I can think of very few countries I would not bother returning to.

I'm curious to know how many places I've been but Leichtenstein doesn't exactly equate to Brazil for example, and although I've transited through Dubai and Abu Dhabi a dozen times I've still not had time to get out of the airport, so it's hardly a visit. Having said that, I would go out of my way to visit San Marino (tie in into a trip to Urbano or something) for the kitsch aspect as much as anything else (I want their euro coins for starters).The best app tied in with Facebook for me is their "cities I've visited" tripadvisor thing, which is no more than a map you stick pins in. Really shows the areas I've under-explored.

Just looked at the CC list - it's pretty arbitrary! Indonesia split into regions, Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak all different, but Brazil is one country apart from the Atlantic island of Fernando de Norhonha (spelling?). I've just counted 18 "non-countries" which I've visited on that list.

No.I have to have actually visited for my count.Marge and i are doing a RTW trip in a few years, I will see if I can get closer.The biggest holes for me are S America and Africa, and those are the two places we will concentrate on during our RTW.

I'm going to the back seat of my car, with the woman I love, and I won't be back for ten minutes!

Lincoln wrote:Where are you planning on going to Homer on your RTW trip?

Not sure Linc...I'm pretty much positive we will start in Mexico and work our way down to Patagonia, then fly across the pond to S. Africa then work our way up thru the middle east, or possible thru Morrocco to Yurp. Then some of the 'stans. Then back to India, Nepal, Tibet , Bhutan, maybe Mongolia. We will take 3-6 months to stay with my in-laws in Taiwan and just do short hops thru SE Asia from there. Then the South Pacific as we make our way home.Tenantively 18-24 months. I have a shitload of FF points which we will use.Really it depends on how were are enjoying ourselves and whether we are getting weary of travel or not.Thankfully moneys not much of an issue as I have investments we can live off of, plus I will rent both of my primary residences out while we are away.

I'm going to the back seat of my car, with the woman I love, and I won't be back for ten minutes!

That sounds sweet homer good for you.....i could just go for a long trip of say 1 year +....i never get bored,if things start to look like they will I just move on.Bhutan sounds great and the Stans....i bet they will be the most interesting.

Lincoln wrote:That sounds sweet homer good for you.....i could just go for a long trip of say 1 year +....i never get bored,if things start to look like they will I just move on.Bhutan sounds great and the Stans....i bet they will be the most interesting.

That's kind of the plan, we will stay in a place as long as it still interests us.One big difference will be we will do more long term rentals, book a place for a month and then use it as a base, instead of traveling place to place like in my old backpacking days.The only reason I have a two year time limit is that is as long as i can keep my RTW bookings for.

I'm going to the back seat of my car, with the woman I love, and I won't be back for ten minutes!

There should be some metric of number of countries visited adjusted for income. Showing that one has been to many countries indicates a worthwhile interest in travel, exploration, culture, etc ... but it is partly related simply to having time and money on your hands, so I have mixed feelings about bragging. If I buy a ticket to a comfortable destination, rent a car, stay in good hotels, and eat good food I shouldn't get as much credit as someone who stows away on an oil tanker bound for Nigeria, hikes to Djibouti, swims to Yemen, seduces a western flight attendant, and returns in the jump seat next to her on a flight home.

It's funny- my husband told me he wanted to stopover in Malaysia on our return from Bali this NovEye rolling ensued on my part because he just wanted to add it to his listBut once I started checking out places I realized it would an interesting place to visit

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.

I'm on 78 with number 79 coming on Friday when I drive up to Haggis land.

you're stuck at 78, Scotland is not a country

i just booked to go to Northern Ireland

still stuck

I challenge you to walk into any pub in Glasgow and say "Scotland isn't a country"

I'm going from the TCC list TP....i'll grant you theres some weird criteria like why is Quebec not on the list if they split Indonesia 6 or 7 ways.

They explain their criteria on their website...like i said above i don't agree with counting transiting in a country but the rest is fine with me,anything that has me travelling more is all good to me.

Electrolyte wrote:Pez, I scrolled your post up from the bottom, wondering who the hell is this?

I was just doing anyone a favor if they wanted to use the list included on the site; it's easy to copy/paste my list into a spreadsheet, add a new column of 1s to indicate countries you've visited, and add up the 1s to get a count. I guess that's (a) not easy to glean from my message and (b) rather nerdly.

Jesus, you turn your back for one second and the next thing you know, everyone's going all fucking kumbaya and shit around this dump - Moe